Allstate is a major personal insurance company selling auto and homeowners insurance primarily to individual consumers, sold through both independent agents and its own exclusive Allstate agents, along with direct online channels. Auto insurance is Allstate's largest business, and its profitability depends on accurately pricing premiums against the claims it eventually pays out, a relationship insurers track through the combined ratio. The company's homeowners insurance business exposes it to catastrophic weather losses like hurricanes and wildfires, which can generate claims costs in a single severe event that outweigh a full year of normal underwriting profit in affected regions. Allstate has invested in usage-based insurance programs that price premiums partly on actual driving behavior, similar to programs offered by Progressive, as insurers compete to price risk more precisely than traditional demographic-based underwriting allows.